Relying on large cards made out of cut poster board or pieces of 8 1/2 inch-by-11 inch card stock as the base for this project allow children to mix and match adjectives with appropriate nouns. Write a variety of common nouns, such as “dog,” “cat” and “house,” with colorful markers on one set of cards. Make another set of cards by writing simple adjectives such as "red," "one" and "tall." Instruct each child to select a noun and then choose a matching adjective for the noun. Children enjoy combining words that work well together, such as "black" and "cat," and delight in discovering how many combinations of adjectives and nouns they can create. Making frequent mention of the words “noun” and “adjective” while the children are making their word selections reinforces the understanding of the concepts.
Encourage children to think of adjectives to describe everyday objects in the classroom. One game that reinforces the concept of adjectives is to pass around a container filled with nouns such as “desk,” “chalkboard” or “flag.” After every student has picked a word from the container, ask each child to think of an appropriate adjective that matches her noun. Allowing a bit of silliness during the exercise is perfectly acceptable as it helps children stay engaged and interested in the process.
Invite children to become part of an adjective game based on the game “I Spy.” Start things off by saying, “I spy with my little eye someone tall.” All the tall students step to the front of the room. Continue to use adjectives to describe the student you have in mind, using the process of elimination until someone guesses the final student you are describing. If you can trust that your students understand the importance of never using potentially offensive or hurtful adjectives in their descriptions, you may give students a turn leading the game.
The Math and Reading Help for Kids website recommends an adaptation of the popular game Mad Libs to help students learn about adjectives. Print out a story with all adjectives removed and replaced with blanks to be filled in. You may either hand out sheets to each student so that every child completes the story with his own selection of adjectives or you can pass one sheet around so that a different student fills in each missing adjective. In this game, choosing silly words will make the end result that much better and funnier. An alternative way to play this game, often with equally hilarious results, is to provide students with a list of adjectives. The game is then played the same way. They pass the sheet with the blanks around the room and each child chooses a word to add to the story. The goal is to be as silly as possible while using every word.